Changing Navigatiobar back button action in ios6/ ios 7 compatible applications - ios

Question

I have a navigation controller application, and I need to set the custom action for the navigation back bar button. Tried some workarounds and not yet to find a solution.
Tried
UIBarButtonItem *backBarItem = self.navigationItem.leftBarButtonItem;
backBarItem.target = self;
backBarItem.action = #selector(popToHomeViewController);
Result : No effect. Back button pops to just previous viewController in navigation stack
UIBarButtonItem *customBarItem = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithTitle:backBarItem.title style:backBarItem.style target:self action:#selector(popViewController)];
self.navigationItem.leftBarButtonItem = customBarItem;
Result : No effect. Back button pops to just previous viewController in navigation stack
UIBarButtonItem *customBarItem = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithTitle:#"back" style:backBarItem.style target:self action:#selector(popViewController)];
self.navigationItem.leftBarButtonItem = customBarItem;
Result:Now my selector got invoked perfectly and navigated to desired viewController. Here the issue is that the back button not as like as the native back button. It is not having the bold "<" character as I have not mentioned it. If added < character it needs to be changed for ios 6 compatibility.
Any better solution to ensure ios 6 and ios 7 compatible navigation back button with custom selector?

Answer 1

Try this simple example will help you..
- (void)viewDidLoad {
[super viewDidLoad];
UIImage *buttonImage = [UIImage imageNamed:#"back.png"];
UIButton *button = [UIButton buttonWithType:UIButtonTypeCustom];
[button setImage:buttonImage forState:UIControlStateNormal];
button.frame = CGRectMake(0, 0, buttonImage.size.width, buttonImage.size.height);
[button addTarget:self action:#selector(back) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];
UIBarButtonItem *customBarItem = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithCustomView:button];
self.navigationItem.leftBarButtonItem = customBarItem;
[customBarItem release];
}
-(void)back {
[self.navigationController popViewControllerAnimated:YES];
}
Make sure you have an button image with the size of a navigation bar back button in your resource folder with name back.png
Feel free if any other assistance is required.
Happy Coding!!!!!

Answer 2

Try this
viewController.navigationItem.hidesBackButton = YES;
//set custom image to button if needed
UIImage *backButtonImage = [UIImage imageNamed:#"back"];
UIButton *button = [UIButton buttonWithType:UIButtonTypeCustom];
[button setImage:backButtonImage forState:UIControlStateNormal];
button.frame = CGRectMake(0, 0, backButtonImage.size.width, backButtonImage.size.height);
[button addTarget:viewController action:#selector(back) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];
UIView *backButtonView = [[UIView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, backButtonImage.size.width, backButtonImage.size.height)];
[backButtonView addSubview:button];
UIBarButtonItem *customBarItem = [[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithCustomView:backButtonView];
viewController.navigationItem.leftBarButtonItem = customBarItem;
and in back method you can customise
- (void)back {
//Your code
}